payday loan - arrest?

[outofdebt]

What is the name of your state? CA
My situation is almost the same as the one in TN. I live in CA.

I wrote the payday loan checks and 2 weeks after writing these checks, closed the checking acct. to avoid hundreds of dollars in return fees.

I've paid on most of the items and shaved the indebtedness to these firms (6 companies - via the Internet) from $3300 to $1100 over the past 6 months via payments. This is true except for one very small debt to a firm for $190.

I rec'd a call from them this AM, demanding either the entire sum or a phone number for my attorney. They are NOT a CA company and the call was from a collection agency. They would not provide me with any details - except to state that this is a BAD CHECK matter.

I simply do not have the money and need to know should I expect to be arrested? I've called our local Lawyer Referral Service and besides this I don't know what else to do.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Ladynred]

First, if this IS a 3rd party debt collector, then they ARE bound by the FDCPA and must abide by it. Abuse and threats of legal action they (the CA) can't take or don't intend to, are violations of the law. They cannot simply call the cop shop and get an arrest warrant.

While your timing of closing the account just 2 weeks after you took the advances could be suspicious, they still have to follow legal procedures. CA's tell lies, they make nasty, illegal threats and they break the law. If the payday loan place was going to press charges against you for writing 'bad checks', they probably wouldn't have sent the debt to a collection agency.

 

[outofdebt]

Legal position clarified

Since submitting this appeal, I've done a great deal of research.

Basically, I found out there are two areas of law into which I've fallen: individual State Deferred Deposit Loan Acts and possible civil bad check laws - if a Deferred Deposit Loan ordinance is not in effect to control the way a resident payday loan lender does business.

I found sites with accurate and up-to-date information that will help anyone in my position to get some rest:

The first site is one created by the Paycheck industry (believe it or not) that points to every official state legislature site: http://research.aarp.org/consume/d16954_payday.pdf

You can go to the links and find current legislation. Most states now prohibit payday lending institutions from "Threatening to use or using the criminal process in this or any other state to collect on the loan or any civil process to collect the payment of deferred payment loans not generally available to creditors to collect on loans in default".

In most states, a postdated check puts the lender in a non-criminal position because "a lender accepting a post-dated check removes the intent to defraud". In TX, for ex., using the state's hot check criminal laws to enforce a payday loan is NOT PERMITTED. The collection agency that called me was in TX.


The second site is a AARP White Paper, discussing at great lengths all aspects of the Deferred Deposit Loan industry:
http://research.aarp.org/consume/d16954_payday.pdf

I also recommend sniffing around in the archives of the Consumers Union:
http://www.consumersunion.org/finance


I have never commited a criminal act and it was not my intent to defraud. I will continue to pay these loans when I can... my intent was NEVER to cheat them. But, I will now go to bed and sleep soundly because I doubt that a law enforcement officer will visit me regarding these "mistakes".

If these companies did have the right to charge their "victim/clients" with felonies, it would be no better on our government's part than resurrecting the laws that demanded the creation of debtor prisions.

 

[Ladynred]

Great info, thanks for posting it. With so many people trapped in the PayDay loan merry-go-round this info will come in handy

 

[outofdebt]

attorney consult

I will meet w/an attorney soon. I'm doing this with docs. in hand from the sources previously mentioned.

This is taking so much effort and eating up time that I could be using to earn the money to pay the debt. My next paycheck, I will send 1/2 of the amount owed to the original firm, certified. But I have to wait til the first of the month. I will not deal w/the bottom feeding CA's.

Earlier this year, I also rec'd the "District Attorney/imminent arrest in 20 mins." call and ended up paying the firm (in FL) almost twice the amount I owed the loan co. This time, I'm going to fight back.

Lady... thanks for your reference to the FDCPA on other threads. I've forwarded the firm a cert'd letter - no calls at work and only written correspondence request.

The meeting with the attorney is next week. I'll update after.

 

[hcat]

payday loans

There are many questions about payday loans. Here is a guide / resource that provides definitions for individuals seeking to learn about the risks.

Glossary of terms: Payday loans

 

[hcat]

payday loans

Many people have questions about payday loan companies. I feel it is important to understand the risks / terms for these cash advances:

Glossary of terms: Payday loans

 

[ob7ec]

Here's another online resource, although its geared towards people who are considering a payday loan:

payday loans explained

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

I believe I am the original writer you are talking about here, and just for the record, my account was closed after I took out the payday advance because my purse was stolen along with my checkbook, and credit cards--not because I was trying to avoid paying for something. I did not close my account to avoid paying for this loan--I closed my account, on my bank's advice--to protect myself. Perhaps before you start calling people frauds cheats or deadbeats you need to look at or ask about all the facts--not just your own stupid opinion. To which there seems to be a lot of that.

My response:

You know, when it comes to you PayDay borrowers, you all have that same excuse - - your purse was stolen. Bullcrap. You didn't lose your purse, and you didn't file a police report about the purported theft either.

You said you closed the checking account because - -

"I wrote the payday loan checks and 2 weeks after writing these checks, closed the checking acct. to avoid hundreds of dollars in return fees."

That means you didn't have the money to begin with; and you were writing rubber checks all over the place! This wasn't caused by any theft - - you just made that up, like all the others do. Also, IF that were true, why didn't you just transfer your funds from the one account, over to the new account, and write the payday company a new check in payment for the loan, hmmmm?

You didn't because you never had the money!

So now, not only are you a fraud, a cheat, a deadbeat, and a swindler, you're also a liar.

IAAL

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

What is the name of your state? CA

I wrote the payday loan checks and 2 weeks after writing these checks, closed the checking acct. to avoid hundreds of dollars in return fees.

My response:

You didn't write that?

Well, there it is from your first post on this thread!

Yes, you are a liar.

Okay, since you made a theft report, please quote from that report you made to the police, you know, something that the officer wrote on the report.

IAAL

 

[janisk72]

perhaps you need to look at the name on the original poster of this thread. And read the comments, You will see it is not me, and that he copied off my original post.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

perhaps you need to look at the name on the original poster of this thread. And read the comments, You will see it is not me, and that he copied off my original post.

My response:

Then, if you're a different person, then you shouldn't have hijacked this thread with your situation, or you shouldn't have thought that I was talking about you at all when you jumped in.

Anyway, where's the theft report? Where's the quote from the report?

IAAL

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

Just as I thought. There was no theft, and there was no theft report.

IAAL

 

[janisk72]

Sorry. Wrong again. I just have other things to do in my life than sit here playing games with you. So enjoy your stupid sarcastic post and have fun humilating others who are in need of honest help. I know the truth and I personally do not care what an idiot like you thinks or has to say.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

Sorry. Wrong again. I just have other things to do in my life than sit here playing games with you. So enjoy your stupid sarcastic post and have fun humilating others who are in need of honest help. I know the truth and I personally do not care what an idiot like you thinks or has to say.

My response:

Of course you don't care how others think of you. Otherwise, you wouldn't be a liar.

That's why you keep making excuses and not quoting from the theft report. It doesn't exist.

IAAL